Hi Gil,
The plans that I have, show two oblong strips glued together with the ribs, shaped to suit. Getting a decent LE profile from this, is a lot of hard work! I assume that the LE was done this way, to provide a bullet proof construction for combat. If I build any more I shall use a simple squre LE and sheet in the front section. I am sure this is plenty strong enough for a knockabout stunt model and one hell of a lot less work!
Regards,
Andrew.